A Week in The Life Of a Sonics Fan Circa 2006

Online poker has been deemed a Class C felony if played within the state of Washington, Smoking has been banned from any public venue in Washington State, and Strip Club rules have been completely overhauled in the city of Seattle.

Whether right or wrong, each has been done either off the ballot, or in a devious manner. So maybe I should have been more worried when I heard that the Sonics were negotiating with people the likes of these. On Tuesday I woke up, later than desired, as usual, took a shower, ran up stairs, put together my lunch, and when I got into my car, I turned the station to our local sports-talk station, so I could listen to the 5 minutes I get to hear before I lose reception to that station on my route to work.

It didn't take the whole five minutes for me to hear the news that would ruin my day. I had driven about a quarter mile before the station came back from commercial, the rest of the ride was kind of a haze.

I lost reception shortly down the freeway, as usual, however I didn’t change the station. I sat their, trying to catch any information I could through heavy static. I spent the rest of my work day in disbelief. I could have never imagined actually losing a franchise.

So slowly I got through the first stage of grieving, denial. Well next came anger, I was looking for people to blame.

Do I blame Howard Schultz? He was the perfect candidate to own the Sonics. He even PROMISED the fans a championship within 5 years of him owning the team, and after his fifth year I was perfectly happy to forgive him, and allow him to re-tool the team.

Do I blame Washington leadership? Are Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Gregoire up to the same old tricks? Do I somehow blame the new ownership group for swooping in stealing the Sonics from me, that's right ME, overnight?

I soon entered into the bargaining phase of grief. The new ownership group said they would wait for at least 12 months before moving the team, they are sincere right? I can trust this ownership group to really give it their all. I can ignore the fact that the city these men are from hosted 31 games of the New Orleans Hornets last year and sold out every game.

Even if we do lose the Sonics, the Portland Trailblazers, also owned by Paul Allen are no longer for sale, hell, they even have Seattle's newest golden boy Brandon Roy, it seems logical that they will be Seattle's next team.

With all those seeming like long shots, and me somewhat coming to my senses, I gathered in for the next stage, depression. I don’t have a lot to say about this, I am not afraid to admit, I am sad. I love sports, I especially love Seattle sports, and I have grown up with the Sonics always being there.

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